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June 2007
All Russia has foiled a plot to kill the governor of Russia's second city of St Petersburg, who is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, the state security service said on Saturday. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said two suspects had been detained on suspicion of involvement in "an attempt on the life of the governor of St Petersburg, Valentina Matviyenko". In a statement, the FSB said the two Russian nationals were detained on May 16 in possession of two hand grenades and more than 500 grams (1.1 lb) of plastic explosives. Matviyenko, 58, told reporters that people could try to use attacks against politicians to undermine stability. "You just cannot rule out any terrorist acts against politicians and employees of the state to undermine the situation and attract attention," she said. "The law enforcement agencies have worked very professionally, as you can see," Matviyenko was shown saying with a smile on state television. State news channel Vesti-24 showed FSB footage of the suspects being searched. They lay face-down on the ground as FSB offers found a grenade and a lump of what looked like plastic explosives. Kremlin supporters have sounded warnings that extremist groups and radicals financed from abroad could try to undermine political stability. But many opponents tend to view such "plot" reports as an attempt by a group in power to raise the political temperature in the 2007-08 election period for political ends. Matviyenko, a former diplomat who has become one of the most influential women in Russia, helped Putin cement Kremlin control over the northern city where she was born. Elected governor of St Petersburg in 2003, she had a second, five-year term approved by Putin in December. Known for her eye-catching dress sense, Matviyenko has sought to boost St Petersburg's commercial and political importance and recover some of its pre-revolutionary image. She said she had no plans to increase her own security because of the threat: "I feel calm." Putin, credited with imposing stability after the chaos which accompanied the fall of the Soviet Union, says he will step down when his second four-year terms ends in 2008. Bureaucracy, Police, Transport Traffic police from across Europe will join this week to call for a ban on transcontinental road races after the deaths of two people and dozens of incidents in which drivers have had cars confiscated or lost licences for speeding. Police will share intelligence on the races and carry out covert surveillance on the biggest events, which involve driving for up to 1,000 miles each day and partying most of the night. Organisers who are found to encourage speeding and reckless driving, even implicitly, will face fines and even jail following serious accidents. A body that represents senior traffic police officers from across Europe, Tispol, is acting in response to the growing popularity of events that describe themselves as “rallies” or “runs” but which involve owners of high-powered cars racing each other on public roads. The organisers claim that participants are told to obey all traffic rules and often describe the events as “cultural tours”. But Tispol believes that the organisers show very little interest in ensuring that drivers behave themselves and set schedules and routes which encourage them to break the limit. A British millionaire is being held in prison in Macedonia after an elderly couple were killed in a crash with his Porsche as he took part in the annual Gumball Rally this month. Darren Moors, Stoke-on-Trent, has been charged with dangerous driving after being arrested while allegedly trying to leave Macedonia by private jet. Dutch police also seized a Porsche and a Ferrari being driven by Gumball contestants. The Porsche was stopped after overtaking on the hard shoulder and exceeding 125mph. The Ferrari’s driver had his licence confiscated for exceeding 110mph near Amsterdam. His co-driver took over but was then caught doing a similar speed and police confiscated the car. Gumball’s organisers describe it as “an excuse for aristocratic delinquency” but say that there is no prize for coming first. However, two women who took part in 2005 won the “spirit of Gumball” prize after getting stopped seven times for speeding. At a meeting in London this week, Tispol will call for three races with British organisers, Gumball, Cannonball and Carbon Black, to be banned from public roads. A Tispol spokesman said: “We will be calling for such rallies, which pose a danger in terms of speed, dangerous driving and fatigue, to be banned across Europe. To this end, information is currently being gathered and approaches will be made to the European Commission and national governments.” Tispol will propose that rally organisers should be obliged to give police details of their routes to allow spot checks to be made on drivers’ speed. It is also concerned that events which set targets for average speed encourage participants to drive too fast and for too long. The Cannonball Run Europe, which takes place in July, sets stages which require participants to drive up to 860 miles a day. The winner is the car which achieves an average speed for the whole run closest to 61mph. Church The Russian Orthodox Church consecrated a temple on Saturday at a site of mass Stalinist executions in a symbolic act of unity after an 80-year rift between the mother church and a rival faction. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Laurus, the New York-based leader of the Orthodox Church Abroad, attended the emotional liturgy at the Temple Of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. At a secluded military testing site south of Moscow, still surrounded by a fence and barbed wire, tens of thousands of people including many prominent clergymen were mown down by firing squads in the Soviet era repressions of the 1930-50s. The head of the Russian church, who signed a church reunification act this week, laid the groundwork three years ago for the temple in this quiet village. "We are united by the prayers of the martyrs and confessors. Tens of thousands were killed for their faith and truth," he said. Russian exiles who supported Tsar Nicholas II and opposed the communists set up the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia after losing the 1920s civil war. They set up a headquarters in Serbia but later moved to New York. "We beseech in our prayers, 'May the blessing of the saint spirit shed on this sacred place' ... and we implore, 'May this temple stand for eternity, and may all tempests and troubles bypass it'," The head of the Russian church said. "RUSSIA'S GOLGOTHA" The nearby ravines hold the bodies of more than 200 Orthodox priests and believers canonised in recent years, making the former shooting range Russia's biggest shrine. Some 21,000 people, including about 1,000 Orthodox priests, were executed in Butovo in just one brief period of communist repressions between August 1937 and October 1938, according to historians citing files of the Soviet-era KGB secret police. It is unclear how many people were killed in total before executions stopped in 1953. Witnesses said "enemies of the people" were brought to the shooting range in food vans marked as "Meat". Shootings went on non-stop day and night in the later stages. Church, Media, Police OK so the grave robberies seem to have calmed down a bit. Only 2 were disturbed this month. Maybe the ‘FAD’ is calming down a bit. The case will still be open for a long time and residents around the churchyards are being questioned as witness’. “We WILL get to the bottom of this” said Chief Robberts, “Whatever they’re up to, we will find whoever is doing this and put them behind bar until they rot away themselves!” Church, University The Church of England is expected to open 100 academy schools over the next five years, as part of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s attempt to cement controversial education reforms before he leaves office. Church officials will take direct control of a multimillion-pound expansion programme, following a deal struck with education ministers this week. A central plank of education reforms has been formed by faith schools, which are state funded but privately run. Last night the Church, which runs five academies and more than 200 other secondary schools, said there was growing demand from parents and pupils. The schools improvement officer, said: "We have committed ourselves to providing good schools for the poorest. We're not looking for a short-term rise in exam results or for trophy schools, but for long-term improvement." Under the plans, individual dioceses will be free to open academies, which will be overseen by the newly formed Church of England Academies Services Ltd. A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "This sort of activity by sponsors demonstrates the added value sponsors can bring and the importance they place on improving educational opportunities for pupils." The move drew criticism from the National Secular Society. "The Church of England cannot get children into church, so it is determined to bring church into school, where the children have no choice and no escape," its president said. "It is Mr Blair's final, self-indulgent gift to the religious establishment." The Church will put forward £1.5m per academy in return for a large degree of control as part of the plans. According to a spokesman, they would have a Christian ethos but would be open to children of all faiths or none. While there are 46 academies, Blair wants to increase that number to 400. Finance, Legal Yet again another Loan company has setup in Hanley. This one is in the north of the town centre and goes by the name of ‘Quids In’. They are offering a special beginning discount offer for Teachers, police, fire and NHS staff stating that they will offer an extra 1.5% reduction above that of any other company!!! The offices have already been fitted out and they are interviewing for staff right now. They seem to have done their research though and are offering such low loan rates that a a sane businessman could never beat. ‘Chartwell Chambers’ a small lawyers/solicitors company has setup in the area. Claiming to be specialist in Crime, Finances, Business Law etc, they have a strong task force set out with high goals that they are determined to achieve. Tudor Debt collection, a brand new arm of the security firm industry which claims to act as bailiffs and debt management is also doing very well since it’s been in the city. Health Head of Staffordshire’s health department has quit amid a row over a flawed doctors' job selection process, the association said on Sunday. John Jamerson, who has been chairman for almost four years, said he was stepping down after criticism from colleagues that he failed to convey doctors' anger over problems with the government's Medical Training Application System The computerised selection process for specialist NHS training posts has been subject to a legal challenge in the High Court, with a decision expected this week. Junior doctors and senior medics, who have branded it unfair, and has also been dogged by a catalogue of security breaches and errors that left thousands of medics without an interview. Jamerson, a vascular surgeon based, said he had not intended to seek re-election for a fifth and final year in June, but would quit early amid "unhappiness" within the association. He conceded he had not consulted senior colleagues within the BMA over a letter he sent to the Times newspaper on the subject last week. The BMA said "interim arrangements" would be put in place while it set about electing a new chairman. The Department of Health temporarily closed its MTAS Web site around four weeks ago after security breaches. The system was already subject to an official review after it failed to give thousands of junior doctors interviews for specialist training posts, leading many to consider moving abroad to complete their medical education. More than 34,000 doctors are chasing 18,500 British posts, due to start in August. NHS is heading for underspend. The NHS looks like it has underspent by nearly £500m last year after making cuts amid intense political pressure to avoid a deficit, early data shows. Unions suggested the NHS had gone too far in making cuts and harmed care. But the government said any surplus would be re-invested. The Health Secretary has staked her job on the NHS balancing. Figures compiled by the Guardian newspaper revealed the under spend was estimated to be £456.8m in England. The Guardian analysed data from England's 10 strategic health authorities, regional NHS bodies which oversee hospitals and local NHS trusts. They showed that only two regions failed to balance its books - the east of England and the south-east coast. The north west on its own ran up a £161m surplus. The figures include the £450m contingency fund - built up over the year by making cuts to training and public health budgets - which was redistributed to NHS trusts in March. But the data shows a large increase on the three-quarter year point, when the NHS was predicting a small £13m surplus. It is unclear how such a big surplus has been amassed in the final three months of 2006-7. There have been reports of trusts imposing minimum waits for operations in a bid to avoid paying for treatment until the new financial year. The NHS had also not had the full £5.4bn increase in its budget passed on for 2006-7. Some of this went to pay off last year's debt of over £500m, but that still left several hundred million pounds left over. The Department of Health is due to publish the final figures next week. Health, University EU countries may have to dip into national coffers to help finance a school fruit scheme similar to that in place for milk, as part of a drive to combat obesity among children, Europe's farm chief said on Sunday. Earlier this year, the EU Agriculture Commissioner unveiled plans to overhaul the EU's vast fruit and vegetable industry, revising or scrapping many of the annual 1.5 billion euros (1.03 billion pounds) of subsidies paid to farmers. As part of the negotiations that EU governments will hold on her reform plan, due for next month, she will propose using EU subsidies to distribute fruit in schools as part of a compromise reform deal. But EU countries would have to help. "The only outstanding thing at this stage is the financing and I am exploring whether we can find some money outside the fruit and vegetable reform budget," she told reporters on the margins of an informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers. "We might need around 100 million euros a year and I think we need to co-finance it so member states would have to participate," she said, adding that could mean up that to half the cash needed to be match-funded from national coffers. Children targeted under the scheme would probably range from four to 12 years, she said, although added that this was not yet finalized and might move to five to 13 years. Milk is given to schoolchildren in a similar EU-funded scheme. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, estimates that up to 27 percent of men and 38 percent of women are now considered to be obese. The problem is worst in southern countries, as traditionally healthy Mediterranean diets give way to processed foods rich in fat, sugar and salt -- although Poland and Britain have also seen steep rises in child obesity in recent years. Spain, Portugal and Italy report obesity levels above 30 percent in children aged between seven and 11, the Commission says. At present, only Greece and Italy reach the World Health Organization's recommendation of an average consumption of 400 grams of fruit and vegetables a day -- while Britain, Ireland and Sweden have the EU's lowest daily per capita intake. "Only two countries are fulfilling the 400 grams a day requirement," she said. "We should try to encourage other member states to reach the same level." High Society So what’s going on this month? Chris Tarrant - done for attempted bodily harm, Sylvester Stallone - Importing banned enhancement drugs, Paris Hilton in Jail for drunk Driving. Who’s next? One thing’s for sure, the celebrities these days don’t have as much of a safety blanket as they used to for some reason. Media, Police Council staff, charity workers and doctors will be obliged to tip off police about anyone they believe might commit a violent crime, leaked Home Office plans reveal. The proposals could raise civil liberties issues by lowering the "danger" threshold at which individuals are put under surveillance, and even detained by authorities. They may also lead to large amounts of personal information being circulated between agencies in an unprecedented fashion. The draft plans on "multi-agency information sharing" - obtained by The Times - were circulated around a council meeting at the weekend. The document states: "Public bodies will have access to valuable information about people at risk of becoming either perpetrators or victims of serious violence. "Professionals will obviously alert police or other relevant authority if they have good reason to believe (an) act of serious violence is about to be committed. "However, our proposal goes beyond that, and is that, when they become sufficiently concerned about an individual, they must consider initial risk assessment of risk to / from that person and refer the case to a multi-agency body." Danger signs could apparently include a violent family background, heavy drinking or mental health problems, while potential victims may seek treatment for stress from their GP. Occult There are tainted souls in this city. It has been said for a long time, however they are gathering at an extraordinary rate, pulled together by a common force and goal. ~ Caoilfhionn Ashen, Staffordshire Moorlands. Politics Appeal over ID card review ruling The Office of Government Commerce is asking the High Court to overturn a freedom of information ruling requiring it to disclose details of a review of the ID cards project. The OGC carries out 'gateway reviews' at critical stages of major government IT projects, and has never released them on the grounds to do so would prevent project staff talking frankly to review teams. It turned down a January 2005 request to publish the early reviews of the ID cards project, despite information that the commissioner ruled in favour of disclosure. Earlier this month the Information Tribunal backed Thomas' ruling, while stressing the decision did not mean gateway reviews would be published as a matter of course. But the OGC has decided to appeal to the High Court, arguing: "We do not agree with the tribunal's findings on where the public interest lies in relation to what information should be disclosed and what it is appropriate to withhold. "So far, the gateway process has helped achieve over £2.5bn in value for money savings. "In the government's view, disclosure would seriously undermine the effectiveness of the process, as confidentiality is essential to it." At the time of its ruling, the tribunal's formal decision notice said: "We find that the grave consequences for the Gateway process, which OGC maintains would result from even the remotest possibility that reports would be disclosed, is overstated." Street, Underworld It seems that Sandernacht has started threatening some of the other gangs in the city, mainly the consortium. Rumour is it that they are upset with other gangs recruiting their ex members. Could they be scared that someone will spill the beans on whatever they’re up to? ~ Gang runner It also seems like the Consortium have lost another end of their ‘empire’. This time it is suspected that the Gambino’s have taken action against them, however, with all the recent changes with gangs, and the introduction of ‘El Parias’, The Yakuza in Biddulph and Kidsgrove… Who knows???